Guest Post: Ella Kennen

Today’s post is a guest post from author Ella Kennen. Since CBAY is running what is essentially at this point a query contest, and since Ella initially contacted me through a query, I asked her to write about her experience.

You’ve written your story, revised it, critiqued it (and do get it critiqued!), and revised some more. Now it’s time to start slogging through market research and write that do-or-die query letter, right? Well, maybe. Here’s the other way to think about it:

You know you want to get published, so you’re on the prowl for a good fit. You stumble on an open call, contest, submission request, whatever. Aha! You poke around the publisher’s website, get a feel for their books (Maybe you’ve already read some—fantastic! If not, snag some from the library, or at least read free excerpts online.)

You sense possibility. Now it’s time to turn that into something more. You sift through your repertoire of ideas (because as a savagely writerly writer, you always have more ideas than you know what to do with) and you strike upon a match. Maybe, if you’ve binged on market research (and you’ve got to go through the motion sooner or later, so why not sooner?), you’ve got a list of several publishers that would make a good fit with your manuscript.

You plot your arc. You draft. You revise. You let any external deadlines propel you into a most un-you-like level of efficiency (or maybe you’re efficient, and that’s just me). And when you’ve got your finished product, something strange happens. Instead of meeting the next stage with dread, you find you’re looking forward to it. You’ve already done your homework and you know your project is a good fit. Instead of becoming a fearful chore, writing the query letter feels more like the exciting culmination. (Butterflies-in-the-stomach still allowed.)

I’ve found that writing this way gets me significantly better results. Not every submission leads to acceptance—though a lot do—and the rest usually result in some feedback. And that type of rejection is infinitely better and more hopeful than a canned letter or no response at all.

On to that whole wooing Ms. Smoot business. Some moons ago, CBAY had an open call for fantasy and sci-fi picture books. I knew I wanted in. So I sat and I thought … and I read the picture books I knew the editor was looking for (Thank you, internet! And people, do your homework—it’s a treasure trove out there)… and I thought some more. And finally, I had an idea. Looking back, I honestly don’t remember when I wrote my first draft of the query, but it very well could have been before the story was finished… or even started.

I won’t get into the mechanics of queries, which have been covered extensively by savvier people than I (like the Buried Editor herself). Do read up on the process and follow the rules. Stand out by delivering a great product, not by deviating from the guidelines.

I will, however, give you a looksee at my query:

I was thrilled to hear about your call for sci-fi picture booksubmissions. I have enclosed my gender-bender sci-fi retelling of theclassic Cinderella story below for your review.

[Paragraph of synopsis]

I see CinderAdam as the beginning of a series of sci-fi picture booksinspired by classic tales. The next two stories in the series, forinstance, would be (1) about an alien Rumpelstiltskin literallyspinning oxygen out of thin air at a space colony, and (2) about arobot scientist who creates a human (“It’s alive!”) only to discoverhe doesn’t know what to do with his Franken-baby.

[Paragraph about me]

Nothing magical there—boilerplate stuff. But it was enough to do the job…. even though the manuscript I sent was more storybook than picture book. When an idea is a great fit, the query has an easy task. It doesn’t have to convince, cajole, or hard-sell. (As a side-note, Cinders became ClinkerAdam, and the Franken-baby story never came to be, but three stories I hadn’t thought of at the time did!)

Matchmaking before you write won’t teach you the mechanics of query letters and it won’t make writing a synopsis magically easier… but it might give you a level of confidence you’ve not had before… and it will make the submission stage of the process a lot faster and less painful than going at things the traditional way. It’s not the only way to do things, and in some cases, it might not be a feasible way to do things, but it’s definitely worth trying. Who knows, it might even land you a book contract… and a guest post on your editor’s blog. 😉

Buried Editor’s Note: The Rumpelstiltskin story that she mentions above is the story that just released yesterday, Out of Thin Air. It’s my favorite of the bunch, and frankly the story that sold me on the whole concept!